


A New York Minute

by Mystery_Penman



Series: Seeking Justice [1]
Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), DCU
Genre: AU, Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Big Time AU, Drama, F/M, Family, M/M, Murder, Not kidding, Original Character Death(s), Romance, Seriously huge, Suicide Attempt, kids getting hurt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 08:20:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2461331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystery_Penman/pseuds/Mystery_Penman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This started as a prompt and turned into a huge scale series.<br/>In a universe where Dick Grayson's parents were never killed, Bruce Wayne adopts Danny Wilde, the son of a business partner who was on the verge of an incredible breakthrough, after his parents are gunned down by a hit man in New York City.<br/>Danny's smart, mind-blowing smart, and it doesn't take him long to work out who Bruce is and what he does with his free time.<br/>And he wants to help, and Bruce can't say no.<br/>(This series takes place in multiple stories. Check the notes at the beginning of each chapter to indicate if it's the right one to read next.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Colton sneered, eyes flashing with hate.

“Once I kill you,” he spat. “There is nothing that can stop me from using the Reactor to destroy Gotham once and for all!”

Robin blinked fiercely as his vision blurred, from blood loss, exhaustion or just the agony ripping through him from his salt filled wounds, he didn’t know.

“That,” he rasped. “Is never gonna happen. I won’t _let_ it happen. I won’t _let_ you win.”

“The only way you can stop me is to kill me!” Colton cackled. “And _you don’t kill_!”

Robin adjusted his grip on his sword and shifted his weight to his injured leg slowly.

“I think I can make an exception,” he said, and then vaulted forward, sword pointed out in front of him.


	2. Chapter One (Read First)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read First

Though he couldn’t remember, Danny Wilde had met Bruce Wayne once before.

Bruce had come to New York to meet Danny’s father, Genius Billionaire Rising Star Christopher Wilde, CEO of sky-rocketing technology company, WildeTech Incorporated.

Danny had only been a year old, playing with his toys on the mat beside Christopher’s desk.

“Mr Wayne,” Christopher greeted as Bruce entered his office. “It’s an honour, sir.”

“Please, Dr Wilde,” Bruce smiled. “Call me Bruce.”

“Then you can call me Chris,” Chris grinned. “Only people I don’t like call me Dr Wilde.”

Chris was almost as tall as Bruce, but not nearly as broad or bulky though he was muscular. He was in his mid-twenties and had wild black hair that stuck up in every direction, exotically tanned skin, maybe Italian, and abnormally large round sapphire eyes.

He had an easy, though infectious smile and a handsome likeable face, but Bruce had heard rumours about Chris’ vicious business skills and unwavering stubbornness when it came to deals.

Bruce knew a good investment when he saw one, but first he needed to be sure Chris hadn’t dealt under the table to get where he was today. Normally, he would have bugged Chris’ systems, but the firewalls were nothing like Bruce had ever seen. Not even the Bat-Computer could get past them before its server overloaded and caught fire.

“Of course,” Bruce said. “Now, I’m here to see this new medical technology you’re developing. I’m looking to invest if it impresses me.”

Chris’ eyebrows rose. “Project _Itsy-Bitsy_?” He inquired. “That’s hardly out of the rodent testing phase, Mr…uh, Bruce.”

“In any case,” Bruce shrugged, “I’d like to see if it’s worth investing.”

Chris nodded and beckoned him over to his desk. “I have some of the tapes on file. I can’t let you into the lab after all, security and health reasons. Please, sit down.”

Bruce sat in one of the chairs in front of Chris’ desk as Chris worked on his computer and felt something tug at on the leg of his pants.

He looked down and met huge round sapphire eyes framed by shaggy black curls and impossibly long eyelashes.

“Danny,” Chris sighed fondly. “Leave Bruce alone. He’s helping Daddy work.”

“No he not.” Danny replied. “He sittin’.”

Bruce quirked an eyebrow. Danny had quite the vocabulary for a one-year-old.

Chris’ smile was exasperated and fond. “I’m sorry, he has his mother’s logic.”

Bruce shrugged and Danny held his arms up, an expectant look on his face.

Suddenly, one dark eyebrow rose and Bruce knew the toddler was far more intelligent than he should be at that age.

“He wants you to pick him up,” Chris explained. “That eyebrow is going to either cost or make me a fortune one day, I just know it.”

Bruce’s willpower lasted all of a minute under Danny’s gaze and he picked the ebony haired boy up and sat him on his lap.

If a toddler could look smug, Danny was at that moment.

Danny started talking then, about robots and dinosaurs and his imaginary friend, Robert the Robin, and then he started babbling about math more advanced than what most sixth graders were learning.

Bruce blinked and stared at the boy, then looked up at Chris, who hardly looked fazed.

“Ah, here it is,” Chris said as he turned the monitor around to face Bruce.

On screen was a lab rat with its belly split open, still alive.

 _“Test subject No. 214, AKA, Sybil.”_ Chris’ voice cackled through. _“Injury: slashed abdomen, bowels and innards unperforated. Chance of survival with immediate medical attention: seventy-five per cent. Chance of survival with medical attention in twenty minutes, the average time to get from the nearest hospital to anywhere in Manhattan and back: twenty per cent. Nanite quantity released through aerosol spray: thirty thousand. Releasing Nanites…now.”_

The sound of an aerosol can being sprayed played and a cloud of tiny silver particles shimmered through the air and settled on Sybil’s wounds.

Almost half a minute later, the wound began to stitch back together with only the faintest scar, and the particles fell away and gathered into a solid metal ball about the size of a blueberry.

Chris shut the tape off and looked at Bruce, blue eyes cool and calculating.

“Nanites, Bruce,” he said. “Tiny robots, barely the size of a speck of dust, designed to keep the patient alive until they reach a hospital. One day I hope to build Nanites that attack and destroy viruses, destroy cancer cells before they take hold, produce insulin to cure diabetes! I want them to repair damaged nerves! I want them to cure Dementia and Alzheimer’s!”

“And what if someone turns them into a weapon?” Bruce asked. “What if someone discovers how to make them release toxins? Make them destroy the body from the inside? What then, Chris?”

Chris frowned. “My Nanites could change the world, Bruce. I have a no-military funding policy for those very reasons you just gave.” He said. “What if you had a child born with only a few days to live? Or they developed an incurable cancer? My Nanites would save their life.”

“Or they could fall into the wrong hands,” Bruce returned. “One vial of these Nanites in the hands of someone smart and cruel enough to turn them into weapons could pose a true threat.”

“You’re not the only business man to come asking about Project _Itsy-Bitsy_ , Bruce,” Chris told him after a long moment. “Last month I had a visit from one of my rivals, Jeremy Taylor from Taylor Industries, and he wanted to fund my Nanites. Taylor is in deep with the Mob, and not just here in New York, but in Gotham, Central City, Star City, the Triad and a mysterious organisation who operates from Tibet. I turned him down without a second thought. To get my Nanites, he’d have to kill me and my family, and I’m not going to let that happen.”

There was a cold fire in Chris’ eyes and Bruce leaned back, not taking his eyes off the younger man.

“And neither will I,” Bruce finally said. “If you’re serious about using these Nanites for the reasons you gave me, you can count on me for anything, I promise. All you need to do is ask.”

Chris blinked, and then smiled. “I’ll have a contract drawn up this afternoon. Would thirty per cent of my company’s controlling stocks be adequate?”

“Thirty per cent?” Bruce repeated.

“Officially, I have fifty per cent controlling interest,” Chris explained. “And Danny has twenty, but I control it until he turns twenty-one. It I die before then, my shares are transferred to the market, I need someone I can trust to take care of the majority stock until my son is old enough to take over. You’re the most honest business man I’ve ever met, you’re the first person whose come asking about Project _Itsy-Bitsy_ to tell me they could be turned into a weapon, so you’re the only man I can trust.”

Bruce nodded, “and what happens to Danny if you and your wife are killed?” He asked. “Family? Close friends?”

Chris snorted humourlessly. “My parents died when I was twenty and my brother is a drug addict living in Gotham. My wife’s parents haven’t spoken to her since she left the circus to become an Olympian and her brothers and sisters haven’t spoken to her either.” He said, “and I’ve never been good at making friends, I’ve always been too smart for people my own age and older people treat me like I’m some little kid, so I’ve given up on friends.”

“So, Danny will just go into the system?” Bruce said, “He’s…if you’re trying to protect him, that’s not the place where he’ll be safe.”

“I know,” Chris nodded, “and I know he already likes you. He never approaches strangers unless I tell him to talk to them and even then he’s cranky about it. I’ve only ever seen him approach someone he didn’t know once before and that was my personal assistant, Mandy. It’s the reason I hired her.”

“What are you getting at, Chris?” Bruce asked, though he already had an idea of what it was.

“I want you to take care of my son,” Chris answered immediately, “in the event that Sharon and I both die, I want you to take care of Danny, raise him to be a good man like I hope to see him become. Bruce, please, I know we’ve only just met but I trust you. You’ll protect him, you’ll keep him from harm. Promise me you’ll take care of him?”

Bruce looked at the still babbling toddler in his lap and Danny beamed at him adorably, then looked back at Chris for a long moment, then nodded.

“I promise, Chris,” he swore. “I’ll take care of him if you and your wife can’t.”


End file.
